Paper folding mechanism



Feb. 9, 1932. R. M. WOLFF ,9

PAPER FOLDING MECHANISM Filed Jam.v l9, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 avwwtozFeb. 9, 1932. R. M. WOLFF PAPER FOLDING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 19, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 2 I 5 2 V. 4 6 0 4A 7 l e 3 3 7 3 2 3 G 3 42 5 .l 2 a 6 2 4O u 3 9 w w w 4M \M. 4 \h\\\ o 6 U Q 2 5 7 a n. y a Q IRU H HH J 8 0 a 2H 2 V G W a, 2 5 I 4 I! v F "m W 7 m M a 0 1. 2 L. 9 H 3. w 7 fi 6 W 4 2w 4 e 5 5 4 4 FIGA.

Patented Feb. 9, 1932 stare rsneaa ROBERT MAXfWOLFF, OF BERLIfN,GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO THE. TABULATING MA- CHINE COMPANY, OF END-IGOTT,NEVT YORK, A COBCEOBATION OF NEW JERSEY PAPER rornrne ivnicnnmsivrApplication filed January 19, 1929, SeriaLNo. 333,713; and in GermanyAugust 25, 1928.

In the art of accounting machines, especially in thetabulating machineart it is customary to print continuous record strips or sheetsindicating items and. results derived from said items as for instancetheir totals, or differences and so on. Tabulating machines arecontrolled by perforated recordcardsbearing record data and thesecard'susually controlv accumulators and. a printing device; which records.upon; the aforesaid paper-sheet. the-individual data.v Fhe record sheet;is shifted one step for each entry and when the printing device iscontrolled by the accumulators-5. for example, when the group number of.the records running through the machine changes, the record sheet'willalso receive the total of the items previously printed.

When. a large number of cards run through. the tabulator and thecorresponding data has to be recorded on a continuous sheet or whenunitary business transactions require recording of the data on acontinuous sheet or if for. the convenience of the operator no. specialattendance is given to the paper feed mechanism, the sheet will becontinuously fed and" finally will become so long that handling of thesame Every-inconvenient.

The present inventlon aims to store the L e printedrecord sheet in avery convenient form without severnig-thesheet and Without anyparticularattendance on the part of the operatorand it is the mainpurpose of the inf ventioir to. providea folding mechanism foraccounting; machine, which mechanism meets all requirements mentioned inthe preceding paragraph.

Another ob ect of the present invention. is to, provide means foractuatlng said foldlng mechanism in. accord with the paper feeding Otherobjects. and. advantages will: be here-- inafter set forth in theaccompanying specification andclaims and shown in the-drawings.

which show byway of illustration what is now'consideredto be a preferredembodiment of: the invention;

Inthe; drawings: v 1

Fig. 1 is a side. view of a printing tabulat ing machine With itsassociated folding mechanism.v

Fig. 2- is: a side view of the. folding device,

Fig. 3 is a sectional. view of the folding device shown in Fig. 2, and

Fig. Lis a front view of'the foldingdevice according. to Fig; 2;. Y 4

In the accompanyingdrawings the tabulat-. in-g machine is generallydesignated by the referencenumeral 1.. As has been mentioned:thismachinehas a printing device comprisiing; up and downwardly moved.type carriers 2 which are under the control of perforated: record cardsand are arrested in their printiing position during'their upwardmovement inaccordance with the respectiveindexr points. At'the end ofthe machine cycle-the typehammers are released and impel the type inprinting position against the record sheet 49;. carried bythe platenroller 14:; therefore?. the item; represented on the controlling rec-0rd card by means of perforations will be recorded upon the sheet 49 byprinted numerals. The standard tabulat'ors: are pro vided "with anautomatic shifting device for the platen 14, so as to shift the sheet49" to the following line where the item represented on the followingcard passing-:througlr the. machine will be printed and so on.

A frame generally designatedbynumeral- 6,. carriesthe folding mechanism3 and the paper sheet supply roll 4.. The frame 6 may be eitherindividual as shown; in Fig, 1 or it. maybe firmly or detachablyattached to the tabulating machine.

From the supplyroll 4, carriedby a pair of arms 50 fast on both sides ofthe'frame 6,

the sheet 4:9 is fed over an auxiliary roll 51' a feeding roll 5 carriedby the frame, another auxiliary roll- 52 attached to arms 50-, overplaten 14C and then to the folding mechanism over a guiding roll 53provided at the upper ends of posts 54 which are fastened on both sidesof the housing 3 of the folding mechanism.

The shaft 74 of the feeding roll 5 carries on one end a ratchet 10, forshifting the roller 5 and cooperating with a shifting pawl 9 which ispivoted to a lever 8. This lever is pivotally connected with theactuating rod 7 which in turn is connected with the upper arm of a bellcrank lever 11. The bell crank lever 11 is pivoted at to the frame ofthe machine and its lower arm engages a finger 13, fixed to a shaft 56which has its bearings .in the frame of the machine and reaches with itsother end into the housing of the driving mechanism. A spring 12normally tends to turn lever 11 in clockwise direction and holds thelever in engagement with finger 13. The upper arm of hell crank lever 11has a slot 15 accommodating a bolt and nut 75 attached to the actuatingrod 7. This arrangement is provided to obtain a settable connectionbetween bell crank lever 11 and rod 7 in order to vary the shifting stepof pawl 9 within certain limits and to adjust the same preferably inaccordance with the shifting step of the feeding roll 14 of thetabulating machine. i

The shaft 56 cooperates with a cam member of the driving mechanism ofthe tabulator in such a way that the shaft and accordingly also thefinger 13 provide a rocking movement in counterclockwise direction atthe end of each machine cycle. It will be recognized that consequentlyalso bell crank lever 11, rod 7 and lever 8 will be moved and that pawl9 will shift roll 5 for an amount dependent on the adjustment of element75 in slot 15 of lever 11. In the well known manner also the feedingmechanism of the tabulato-r for roll 14 will be actuated at the end ofthe machine cycle to feed the record sheet for one step to the nextprinting line. In order to hold sheet 49 tight towards roll 5, a pivotedelement 7 8 may be provided.

After the record sheet 49 has been printed in the tabulator it will befed over roll 53 to the folding device which will now be described morein detail.

The folding mechanism as illustrated in Figs. 2-4 comprises a casing 3open at the top but having a cross rod 20 and a cross plate bothsupported at both ends by the side walls of the housing as willbe'seenfrom the drawings. A storing plate 18 is provided within the casing andpressure springs19, one being arranged in each of the four corners ofthe housing, cooperate through fastening blocks 57 with the lower sideof plate 18 on the one hand and with the bottom plate 58 of the housing3 on the other hand and tend to lift the plate 1811pwardly. In Fig. 3 isshown a folded record sheet 49 lying upon the plate 13and being pressedon the left side against the cross rod 20 and on the right side againstthe folding roller 33 and the folding element 34. Fast to the lower sideof the plate 13 (Fig. 3) is an element 59 terminating in a handle 39.The element 59 has twoside lips 61 which pivotally carry a second handle41, which on its rear end a lifting bar 40 connected with lever 41 by apin which passes through the plate 18 (Fig. If it is necessary to removethe folded record sheet as shown in Fig. 3 from the housing, at firstthe sheet will be severed in any suitable manner, then handle 39 isdepressed and handle 41 pressed towards handle 39. Thereby the r cordsheet bundle is released from pressure by rolls 33 and folding elements34 and is also lifted from plate 18 by bar 40 so that it may be easilygripped and removed from the casing through slot 76 in the upper part ofthe front plate 64 of casing 3.

The front plate 64 carries a lug 62 on each side and the rear plate 65carries lugs 62 at the same elevation. Lugs 63 are fastened to both sidewalls on the front and rear end of the same and are arranged below lugs62. As will be recognized from the drawings on each side of the housingthere are provided two rods 22 fastened to the aforesaid lugs. The onerod connects the upper front lug 62 with the lower rear lug 63 while thesec ond rod connects the lower front lug 63 and the upper rear lug 62.As has been mentioned on each of two opposite sides of the housing isprovided such a pair of rods serving as rails for the folding carriagewhich will now be described.

The carriage consists principally of two parallelogram frames carryingon their upper part the folding elements which frames slide on theaforesaid rails 22 when folding operations take place. Eachparallelogram frame comprises two vertical frame bars 23 looselyconnected with each other by two links 24. The foot of each bar is provided with two pairs of rolls 25 engaging the rails 22 thus enablingsliding of the bars 23 along the rails and as the bars move in ahorizontal direction the sloping rails 22 cause them to move vertically.The upper parts of two opposite bars 23 carry a shaft 32 fast to saidbars. Each of the two shaft 32 carries loosely a plurality of foldingrolls 33, each having folding elements 21 and 21 provided with knurledcylinders 34 which cooperate with the record sheet.

Bolts 29 which are fast to the side plates of the housing 3 carry on theouter side of the housing a toothed wheel 27. Similar bolts 29 areprovided in the front part of the housing and carry a tooth-ed wheel 27.

Toothed wheels 27 and 27 mesh with a chain 28 one being provided on eachside of the housing whereby wheels 27 and 27 are turned together whenthe supporting shaft of one of them is turned. The supporting shaft 7 I:

ice

of wheels 27- carries also toothed wheels: meshing with toothed wheels67 fast-to aisliaft 85 which hasits: bearings in projections: 68attached tothe' front plate 64 of" thehousing 3-. Attheright endof shaft(Fig. 4?) is fastened a coupling element 36; A1 toothed wheel 31 isloosely mountedi upon the shaft 35 andnormally pressed by means of'theloose and slidable element 37- and the pressure spring 38- towards thecoupling element 36.

It will be recognizedthat thisarrangmeiit provides av frictionalcoupling between wheel 31 and the shaft 35. Wheel 31'. is-dr-i-ven bymeansof a chain 69 (Fig. 1) meshing with a toothed: wheel- 7 Owhich: isprovided upon the shaft 74 of the paper feeding mechanism; Therefore theshaft 35.will be turned in consequence of the aforesaid frictionalcoupling-in accord with shifting of the record sheet. The shaft 35 inturn coactswith the chain drive comprising chains 28 and wheels 27 and27 which again effect shifting of the foldingcarriage; To the chains 28is fastened a bolt 7-0 which carries-on both ends disks 26-fittingbetween the vertical: bars 23 of the folding carriage If therefore thechains28- are movedstepby step the disks 26 will move the foldingcarriage accordingly; In consequence of. the inclined arrangement ofguiding railsfZQ the one set of bars23will have an ascending movementwhen the carriage isbeing shifted along'th'e rails in, one directionwhile the other set of opposite-bars 23will= descend and during thereversemove ment of the carriage the movements of the bars 23 willalso'be inreverse direction. If therefore the carriage moves from theleft to tlie right, the left foldingelements 21 will engage the. recordsheet and press the same towards plate 18 or the sheet bundle 49 resp'ectively. At the end of: this movement the guiding rolls 34 will:pass between the folded sheet andtheeross 60, pressing the plate 18"downwardly and sliding tllGTSCOYCl sheet below th'eplate 60. .Whenthenthe carriage starts to move in opposite direction the foldi'ng; rolls34-wil-l be removed below the plate while theedge of" the folded" sheetwill be pressed toward said plate and so the sheet will be heldinposition. During the step by stepmovement of the-carriage fromtheright to the left the folding element 21 and guiding rolls 34respectively will be gradually lifted and disengaged from the recordsheet but. in thesanie measurethe folding elements 21 will be loweredand'engagethe sheet from the opposite side. At the left terminal. therolls 84 of elements 21 will slide the sheet between the bar 20 andplate 18 in a similar Way as this has been done at the right side. Thecarriage will then return again and the same operations will be repeatedas long as the machine is running and the record sheet will be folded ina proper manner.

If for any reason the folding carriage should encounter some resistanceor the rec-. ord sheet fed from the auxiliary roll 53: (Fig. 1 tothefolding mechanism should be too tightinofurther shifting of the-carriagewill DRkGPliLC-Ba This is dueto the frictional coupling devicecomprising the toothed wheel 31 and the couplingelements 36 and 37 Incase the carriage should be stopped, wheel 31 when; driven, by chain 69(Fig. 1) will over come the pressure of springBS and therefore will;slide between the elements 36 andfi? without any. effect to shaft 35..

It is; often desirable to have the record sheet not only folded butpasted together on one side so as'to obtain a record in the form of abook. For this purpose there is provided in this machine. a pastingdevice-which is actuated by the folding carriage and which automaticallypaste one margin of the sheet after each foldingcycle, This pastingdevice comprises apaste reservoir 43 attached to the rear plate of thehousing 3, apaste feedingrolle-r 44 and a pivotally mounted pasting;element.45.

The reservoir 43 being: filled; with paste bears in its side walls theshaft of roller 44 which, isspi'rally threaded over all its lengthwhich, as will be understood, corresponds to the. width ofthe recordsheet. Ofcourse, also the reservoir and the pasting brush 45 are ofcorresponding length. The brush roller 45 gliding upon the feedingroller 44 is carried on both. ends by levers 71 pivoted with bolts46-,to lips 72 fast tov the housing 3-. One of the levers 71 has aprojecting arm 47. As the folding carriage ismoving to its extremeleftposition a lever 73 fast to the bar 23 will encounter through itsroller 48 the lever 47 and therefore the pasting roller 45 will beturned in clockwise direction and finally will touclithe leftmargin ofthe most upper sheet.

ltwill be-noticed that each time the carriage is in. its left positionthe brush 45 will paste the upper. sheet and so all folded sheets willfinally be, pasted together on the left side. It will be understood thatspring means are providedto rock. th-epasting brush back to-its normalposition when lever 47 is disengaged from lever 7 3 afterpastingoperation.

, in order tofeed the brush. 45 with paste means may be provided torotate the roller 44 continuously or step' by step; the spiral groovesof. the roller will then take the paste from the reservoir; anddeliverit. to the pastingbrush 45 which in, turn pastesthe record sheet.

WVhilethere has been shown, and described andpointed out the fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to a single modification itwill be understood that variinthe form and details of thedevice-illustrat ed and in its operation may bemade-b-y those skilled inthe art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is theintention therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of thefollowing claims:

1. A folding mechanism for a printing accounting machine to fold therecord sheet pre pared by said machine, said mechanism including a sheetreceptacle and a reciprocally movable folding carriage, comprising apair of parallelly guided carriers on opposite sides of said receptacleand cross rods carried by said carriers, said cross rods carryingfolding elements facing each other, guiding bars for said pairs ofparallelly guided carriers to provide alternate ascending and descendingmovement of said cross rods when said folding carriage is reciprocatedso that alternately one of said folding elements engages the recordsheet to fold it during a to or fro movement of the carriage.

2. A machine according to the preceding claim 1 characterized therebythat said folding carrier is reciprocated by means of disks coactingwith parallelogram carriers, said disks being fastened to an endlesschain driven step by step in accord with the record sheet feedingmechanism of the accounting machine.

3. A printing accounting machine preparing a record sheet, feeding meansfor said record sheet and folding means for the same, comprising acarrier for the folded sheet and a folding carriage, means toreciprocate said carriage relatively to said carrier, actuating meansfor said'reciprocating means, said actuating means being associated withthe accounting machine and controlled in accord with said sheet feedingmeans and means to .electively adjust the feeding step of said foldingcarriage relatively to the feeding step of said sheet feeding means ofthe accounting machine.

l. A machine according to the preceding claim, 3, characterized therebythat said selective adjusting means include an actuating rod for saidfolding mechanism being connected by a settable pin and slot connectionwith an actuating lever of the accounting machine.

5. A printing accounting machine preparing a record sheet, a foldingmechanism associated to said machine, feeding means for said recordsheet, reciprocating folding means, driving means for said folding meansand actuating means for said driving means, said actuating means beingunder the control of the accounting machine, and a frictional couplingdevice between said actuating means and said driving means to avoidpositive driving of the folding means and stopping of the same when theyencounter any abnormal resistance.

6. A printing accounting machine preparing a record sheet, feeding meansfor said record sheet and folding means for the same, means to actuatesaid folding means in. accord with said feeding means and means toperiodically paste themargin of the folded record sheet.

7. A folding mechanism for a printing accounting machine to fold therecord sheet prepared by said machine, said mechanism comprising agripping frame for the folded sheet, a folding carriage cooperating withsaid frame, means to reciprocate said carriage for folding operations, apasting device for pasting one margin of the folded record sheet, saidpasting device being actuated by said folding carriage at one terminalof its reciprocating movement.

8. A machine as described in the preceding claim 7 wherein said pastingdevice consists of a reservoir for the paste, rotating paste feedingmeans, a pivotally mounted pasting element normally sliding upon saidfeeding means and rocked towards the record sheet through said foldingcarriage for pasting operation.

9. A folding mechanism for a record sheet prepared by a printingaccounting machine, said mechanism including reciprocating foldingelements, a storage casing hav ing an opening for inserting the recordsheet, a plate in said casing pressed resiliently upward, bars acrosssaid opening and coacting with said upwardly pressed plate, and meansassociated with said reciprocating folding elements to slide the foldededges of the rec- 0rd sheet under said cross bars to be gripped by saidplate.

10. A folding mechanism for a record sheet prepared by a printingaccounting machine, said mechanism including reciprocating foldingelements, a storage casing having an opening for inserting the recordsheet, a plate in said casing pressed resiliently upward, bars acrosssaid opening and coacting with said upwardly pressed plate, means forfolding and laying the record sheets under said bars to be gripped bysaid plate, hand operated means for lifting said record sheet from saidplate, and a secondopening in said casing for withdrawing the foldedrecord sheets.

11. In a folding mechanism for folding a record sheet in book form,feeding means for said record sheet and folding means for the same,means to actuate said folding means in accord with said feeding means,and means to paste one folded edge of the record sheet at each foldingoperation.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature.

ROBERT MAX WOLFF.

